The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution that Rahul Gandhi be made the party’s national president, a spokesperson said here. UP Congress chief Raj Babbar moved the resolution at a meeting of party functionaries including city and district unit presidents.

Rahul Gandhi, 47, has been the Congress vice president since 2013 and has been assisting his 70-year-old mother Sonia Gandhi, who heads the party. Sonia Gandhi had taken over as the Congress president from Sitaram Kesari in 1998 and is the longest-serving head in the party’s 131-year history.

The UPCC takes this decision in one voice that Rahul Gandhi be made the AICC president, Babbar said at the meeting.

“This is the duty of all Congressmen that the one who has given us new strength and power, and has taken the values of Mahatma Gandhi forward, be made the AICC president…We will become the strength of Rahulji and work under his leadership,” Agarwal quoted Babbar as saying.

Other speakers at the meeting, including Sanjay Singh (MP), Aradhana Misra (MLA), Deepak Singh (MLC), also lauded Rahul Gandhi calling him the “messiah of labourers and farmers” and urged him to rid the country of BJP rule.

The resolution will now be sent to the All India Congress Committee (AICC), Agarwal added.

Several other state units of the Congress, including Maharashtra, Goa, Delhi etc, have also passed similar resolutions seeking the elevation of Rahul Gandhi as the party chief.